pta fundraising ideas?

Question

What are some fundraising ideas that do not involve door to door sales or bothering the family with order forms. examples like, popcorn day for the kids, or white elephant bingo, or gift basket auctions. thanks alot for any input

Answer 1

Congratulations on being an involved parent!

Ideas:

1) One school in our area does a "new to you" sale each year. All the items are donated and they raise about 30k!

The biggest problem with this is it requires a LOT of volunteerism!

I think our school could do it by selling spaces in the playground for $20.00 and letting families/crafters/vendors come sell their own stuff. This way there is NO real work for the school...other than advertising and clean up. All vendors would be responsible for the removal of their own items at the end of the day...contact the goodwill to have a truck there at the end of the day for anyone that doesnt want to cart off their unsellables.

2) Field day!

Have some cheesy carnival games (throw the toilet paper thru the toilet seat, pie toss at the principal, find the candy in the bucket of corn kernals) and hotdog cart.

3) Contact a restaurant (like Friendly's or Perkin's) They will have a "family night" where your school can come and a portion (10- 25%) of their sales to your school.

4) Box tops for education

5) Money Market (many of the stores...like home depot..grocery stores) if you buy gift cards thru the school instead of thru them will give you 10-25%.

6) Bowling

Have a fun bowling day at one of the local alleys. See if you can get a reduced rate for booking so many lanes and use the extra as profit. Hold contests during the games.

7) Balloon-day

In advance the kids can order/pay for balloons to be delivered to their friends. Parents can order/pay for balloons to be delivered to their children. The cost of the balloons to purchase and fill would be pennies...but they could sell for .75-1.00 each. (or flowers/cookies/etc)

8) see if one of your movie theaters..(second run or a big complex) would donate an off hours special viewing of a movie and donate the proceeds to the school...or the proceeds of the snack bar!

9) AUCTION

One of the schools in our area has an annual auction. Its a dinner JUST for the parents at the school. They pay to come (contact the high school or community college to see if the culinary students will donate some of their talents) Have some older students in the school available to be servers.

Enlist the art teacher and go to the goodwill (or ask parents to rummage thru their basements for items) Find a desk or chair.. old picture frames..etc) Have the students in each class decorate the items...(kindergarten parents are the best ones to target because they aren't jaded yet..hehehe) decorate with fingerprints..handprints...etc.

Other auction ideas:

A parking pass! A special parking spot for parents that pick up their kids that let them go to the front of the line..closest spot to their kids dorr and lets them drive right up pick up/drop off and get out of dodge!!!! (One parent paid $200.00 for this!!)

Older students can make jewelry, purses, ornaments.

Many local museums will donate memberships as will karate schools, dance classes, art schools..etc...

10) Contact your local chamber of commerce, kiwanis, rotary, masons, business counil, moms club, mops club, etc...to see if your school can be the benefactor of one of their fundraisers!!!

11) SILLY PRINCIPAL!

Have the principal offer to do something ridiculous! (Ride a donkey thru the lunchroom, shave his beard, dress up like a leprechan, make a hundred snow angels, eat a watermellon without using her hands..whatever)

In each class room have a giant jar.. the kids can bring in their pennies to vote for which ridiculous thing the principal will do....the winning class gets to choose...or..set a goal..if the kids reach $1000.00 the principal will do the silly thing.

good luck!

Answer 2

Pta Fundraising Ideas

Answer 3

I'm a photographer in San Jose, California. This idea of ours of fundraising for school is the best I thinks since someone else will be doing most of the work. So we provide portrait photography for mostly families. We thought that providing this type of fundraising will not only help the schools, PTA, and the children but us too by brand exposure to the areas that we serve.

How? So we pretty much will do all the work. The PTA or school can email their membership monthly to just let them be more aware of the fundraising idea. For any PTA or parent who buys the $$$ package, 50% goes to the school. The package will have some extras like prints. Also, the %50 money can be tax deducted by the person who bought the portrait package. We think that this is a win win win for everyone involve.

Search for:
Shoot Me Now Studio PTA fundraising

If you want more information, contact me via our website and I can help you out.

Mike
Shoot Me Now Studio
San Jose, CA

Answer 4

We just made $21,000 with a school carnival. It takes a LOT to get up and running, but obviously it's worth it. We also do a "non-fundraiser" fundraiser. We sent out a flyer saying "We hate fundraisers just as much as you do". We say that if we can get a certain amount, we won't have to do any selling. We did quite well with this and many businesses contributed. A lot of the parents also had companies that would match their employees' contributions. Also, it's tax deductible!

We also started a school store. It's making about $130 a week. It's once a week, during lunch hours. The kids are LOVING it!

I don't know if you are from a small/big city, but we have restaurants where we get a percentage of sales one night a month (you tell them you're with the school, they put the receipt in a box). We make $180 a month with one burger joint, about $100 a month from a pizza joint, about $60 a month from a chicken joint!

Scholastic Book Fairs are another way to raise money. The kids love them! We make about $5,000 twice a year with them.

Answer 5

One year the pta at the school my boyfriend worked at had a "duties for a dollar" auction. Sort of like a slave for a day type of thing, but how it worked was all the parents that wanted to participate (open to the students and teachers as well) made a sign that said like "I'll mow your lawn" or "I'll wash your car", "walk the dog" etc. and all these duties were posted for the silent auction. People would put their name and phone number and how much they would pay for that person to perform that duty for them. It went over so well that the PTA at that school does it every year. The principal of the school even does a thing where if so much money is raised at the auction he will kiss a pig or shave his head or something goofy that the kids will really get a kick out of and it works. Each year the PTA has raised more than anticipated and the principal has to do this goofy stunt. It's a blast.

Answer 6

The bringing a dollar in to wear something silly to school idea is a fun one, but my school district has stopped doing it. It's basically saying the kids whose families can't afford to pay don't get to participate. I never looked at it that way before, but I'm glad our policy has changed.

One fundraiser that's really popular at a local middle school is pennies wars. Each class or grade level (or however you decide to divide it up) gets a big water jug. Kids can fill up the jugs with pennies for points. Kids can also put silver coins in other jugs to SUBTRACT points from those jugs. It's a fun way to raise money through change.

You should also look into local restaurants and other family places to see if they can set up a night for your school. Chic-Fil-A is AWESOME when it comes to local charities- PTA members can work a night by refilling drinks and washing trays and whatnot, and the school will get a percentage of the money made that night.

Answer 7

How about a Facebook/Online Pampered Chef Fundraiser? I can set it up in less than 5 minutes. The administrator of your page sends an invite to everyone who has liked your page so they already have a heart for your cause. They, in turn, invite their FB friends to the fundraiser only if they want to and share the event on their FB page. The point is how many people "know" you're having a fundraiser so they can participate if they choose. I would love to talk to you more about how I can help so just send me an email. You can find me on FB at www.facebook.com/PampChefLady.

Answer 8

our PTA sets up two carnivals each year---one in the fall and one in the spring. Each child need to buys tickets to play the games (.25 each ticket or 20 for $5) the parents help man the booths(in half hour or hour shifts). We also have to preorder pizza if wanted. Parents are asked to donate deserts to be sold for .25 each. and the pta rents a pop machine to sell pop at .25 a glass.
They have all kinds of games that are easy to set up like ring toss, cake walk(yup donated cakes are the prizes), basketball toss, a craft table(maybe a small charge for this one, like a $1 or $2), face painting(free or for a fee, maybe a $1)and many more. there are lots of websites that have ideas. And each game gives away small candy prizes to all who play. 2 hour of fun for the entire family!! I know we have a blast every year.

This was for an elementary school(k-5), but could be adapted for older kids.

Answer 9

Get a merchant in your area to make you a great deal on a super bicycle and put it on display and sell tickets for chances on it. Sell enough changes to cover the cost of the bike and a profit. You could even have several items available; something for the ladies and the men and the kids.

Have a garage sale at the church or school parking lot. Have all the kids family clean the closet and garage of good stuff they don't want. It's all profit because it is donated. Do lots of advertising (free stuff) signs, press releases to all local newspapers, radio station, local TV stations, etc. The kids can help work it. And take the left overs to a local charity or resale or salvation army.

Do a law day. Lock up in a home made jail, local merchants, local officials, teachers, (pick well known people and students) Call and get their permission to come arrest them. They have to make arrangements for their friends to come down and bail them out. This has to be worked on ahead of time so the merchant can make arrangements for his bail and coordinated someone to come pay his bail.

Our class used to print up what we called "spirit ribbons" for different school events. The students would buy them.

Hope those ideas are too Off the wall for you. They all worked for us. When I graduated, our senior class paid for nothing. It was all paid by the money we earned with our strange fund raisers. (senior picture, cap, gown, senior party....everything)

Answer 10

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
pta fundraising ideas?
What are some fundraising ideas that do not involve door to door sales or bothering the family with order forms. examples like, popcorn day for the kids, or white elephant bingo, or gift basket auctions. thanks alot for any input

Answer 11

For holidays - before Christmas, Easter - have a craft fair in the gym. People from the community 'rent' tables, for maybe $20, and sell their handmade goods. PTA could have a bake sale at the same time.
Family dances are another great way our school raised money - from ticket sales and concession. Family BBQs, too - one in the fall and one in the spring.